Page 33 of Prisoner of War
Chapter Eight
Joshua looked around the big room. It was a private room in one of the best restaurants in Acapulco, tucked away in Acapulco Viejo, the ancient heart of the city. Two hundred or so guests were dancing and drinking after a stupendous wedding supper.
Josh was surprised by how many of the people he knew or recognized. Many of them were refugee Vistarians from Nick’s household.Some of the people in the room, however, were quite famous. He had watched their movies, seen their television reports or read their books...or seen their affairs splashed across the news. Others were more low-key but from the way they moved and mingled, the way they held themselves, Joshua judged they carried power of a different sort. Yet famous or not, none of them held center stage this night.Nick had seen to that.
Joshua smiled to himself as he recalled his fierce satisfaction as he walked his niece up the center aisle of Acapulco’s historic old cathedral. Two days to arrange a wedding...he had cheerfully cooperated with Nicolás Escobedo’s unwavering expectations. Nick’s demands had generated hysteria but despite the chaos, Joshua had worked his ass off because in his gut he hadknown this marriage was right. It was fitting.
That he would come to feel this way was the shocking part of the whole affair. Joshua had held a prejudice against the bastard Escobedo, for any man who used power for his own ends had always roused Joshua’s ire. In the last few weeks, though—since Nick had knocked on the front door of their apartment in Vistaria and pushed his way inside—Joshua’sprejudice had been turned on its head. The drive in the man, the determination and passion he had for his country and his people, had surprised Joshua. At first he thought it merely lip-service paid to disguise a deeper self-interest, but he’d had his mind changed.
Mostly, the change had come from watching Nick deal with Mexican and American officials—ambassadors, heads of government—and thehandful of Vistarian officials and generals who had made it out of the chaos.
Joshua lifted his glass in a silent and solo toast to a long and happy marriage, feeling a bittersweet satisfaction.
* * * * *
Minnie’s dance partner was one of Nick’s younger officers. Like most Vistarians he was a good dancer, but she was incredibly grateful when the music halted and the perspiring band bowed tothe dancers and slipped off stage for a necessary break.
The captain returned her politely to the head table. He was pleasant enough and proud of his new dress uniform.
That was partly the reason for the ache in her chest. The elegant dress uniforms reminded her strongly of Duardo and their first official date. That date had also been the first time they had made love.
Her father was stillsitting at the table as she sat down and she saw his gaze linger on the oldest person at the table. She was one of the two guests who were the reason for all the paparazzi outside the restaurant and the church.
Minnie had been astonished to learn that Karen Lord was Carmen’s grandmother. Minnie’s father had been a silent but dedicated fan of Karen Lord from a young age. The self-contained blondeactress had been the adored darling of sophisticated American moviegoers in the fifties. She had starred in classy European films and the few times she had come home to work she had swept the Oscars. Even now she was still a glamorous, energetic woman.
She was accompanied by her son, Adán Caballero, Carmen’s uncle. Although Karen Lord attracted the adoration of the crowd, Adán was the reasonfor the hysteria. As a major Hollywood star, he was recognized the world over. He was also a stellar performer in the booming Mexican movie and television industry and beloved in his birth country too.
Unlike his mother, Adán stayed in the United States, appearing in big, sweeping epics and adventures and also on the lists of the best-dressed, best-paid and best-looking men in Hollywood, yearafter year.
Even though the wedding supper was held in a private room at the back of the restaurant, the sound of the fans still gathering in the street outside could be heard now that the band had stopped playing. Interspersed with the murmur was female screaming.
Carmen lifted a single smooth brow. “I see you’ve still got what it takes, Uncle Danny.”
Adán, on the verge of seating himself,cocked his head, listened, then winced. He straightened, walked around the table and dropped to his knee next to Calli’s chair and picked up her hand.
“Forgive me,signora. If I had been able to sneak in the back door and save you this ghastly demonstration, I would have, but there was no time.”
Calli gave him a small smile. “How do you live with it day in and day out? Doesn’t it drive you crazy?”
“There are tricks and dodges. Dozens of them,” Adán said soberly. “I would be pleased to teach them to you.”
“Me? I’ll never need them.” Calli gave a laugh. “But thank you.”
Adán leaned sideways to look at Nick, who wasn’t laughing at his joke. “You didn’t let her read the fine print did you, Nicky?”
“I think we’re still in the middle of writing it.” Nick laid his hand on Calli’s where it restedon the table. “Nothing can be assumed these days. Who knows what the future will bring?”
“You’re too much the fatalistic Vistarian for your own good,” Adán shot back. “You should follow the fine American credo. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.” He smiled at Calli. “For you,la dama fuerte, that means learning to live with adoration, just as I do. For it will become part of your life whetheryou like it or not.” His smile faded. “You are a most beautiful lady and when Nicolás becomes their leader, Vistarians will quickly take you into their hearts.”
“Now who’s the fatalistic Vistarian?” Nick said, sliding Calli’s hand from Adán’s.
Adán’s expression changed swiftly to one of horror and disgust. “I am Mexican, you son of an Irish lass.”
Nick smiled. “Half Mexican, you son of a shotgunwedding.”
Karen Lord gave a peal of laughter. “Oh, I have been away too long,” she said, then sighed. “Family...I’ve missed you guys.” She lifted her glass. “I was so thrilled to be invited and I’m very pleased to meet my new family.”
“Me, too,” Adán said, climbing to his feet and clapping Nick on the shoulder. He dropped back into his chair. “But everyone is so sober at this table and thesetwo ladies...” He laid his hands on Minnie’s and Carmen’s shoulders. “They should be the life and soul of the party but they sit here as glum as last week’s porridge.”
